Rick Lazio: Just Pass the Damn Budget

Up until a few months ago, my blogging mainly focused on national issues instead of local ones. I knew Albany was going bankrupt under total Democrat control, and that I have to be careful who I’m seen in public with when eating anywhere in the Town of Hempstead. Outside of that, while I could tell you who the Congressman is in Wisconsin’s First District, I actually had to look up my own state senator.

And I have to admit, after trying to follow the debate over passing a budget, I’m ready to move to New Jersey because at least their governor is talking aboot making tough choices, and understands that we can’t tax and spend our way out anymore. Also, I doubt Gov. Christie would ever use the phrase “budget extender” unless making a joke aboot enhancement.

Thankfully, for the first time in a while the Republicans have put together a slate of candidates I’m really excited aboot. Top of the ticket is Rick Lazio who, unlike his opponent, is speaking out…

“This is the last time we should have an extender,” Lazio just told me by phone. “Gov. Paterson needs to put the full budget on the table.”

Lazio said Paterson and the Legislature so far have shown little inclination toward implementing creative solutions to addressing the $9.2 billion deficit: He said there’s been no restructuring of Medicaid, no consolidation of agencies, and no reduction in the work force.

“It’s all tinkering around the edges,” he said. “Albany has a huge and growing structural deficit and none of this is addressing it any meaningful way.”

He also noted that with about half the budget already done through the extenders, state leaders have only cut just more than $1 billion.

“That means they need to cut $8 billion with less than half the budget left,” he said. “It’s increasingly clear to me that the end game for Democrats in Albany — and that includes Andrew Cuomo — is significant tax increases and borrowing that won’t fix our fundemental problems and will take away more jobs.”

If you want to pretend Prince Andrew isn’t going to raise taxes and isn’t part of the same Democrat/Albany machine that got us into this problem, you can. I sometimes like to pretend I’m defending the heavyweight title in Madison Square Garden.

Either way, while Democrats think New York is on the wrong track and seem to think that that the solution is to elect more Democrats, Independent voters are fleeing them like Jacob to freedom (according to a recent Sienna poll). That gives plenty of time for Lazio to lay out the tough choices we face as a state, present his vision and ideas to fix it, and treat voters like adults.

Hopefully by the time he’s elected Governor, the guy currently in charge will have passed a budget.